St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-03-31
A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA---NO. III.


bama was devoid of interest. The
country seems poor and the habi-
tatiOns still poorer. The party
were glad to reach New Orleans,
getting to the st. Charles hotel in sea-
son for an early breakfast Sunday
morning. There is much in New Or
leans to interest a NOrtherDer. The
city is about 100 miles from the mouth
of the Mississippi river and is built on a
crescent shaped tract of land formed
by great bend in the river, which has
given it the name of Crescent City. 1t
has a population of over 100000, a
large portion being cOlOred. The city
has it's French quarter, and this Ian
guage is largely used. The churches
are large and seem well attended. The
cemeteries are unique. Burials are
made in tOmbs above ground, the land
being low and wet. These tOmbs are
each little stone or brick houses of at
tractive architecture, and many of
them are made at great expense, sur
mounted by marble statuary, etc.
Each one is apparently family tomb.
The grounds are regularly laid out and
a certain uniformity is observed in dis
lance from avenues, giving one the
impression of walking in a miniature
city, as streets stretch away with hand
some buildings OH either side. Some
very elaborate soldier monuments and
statues are seen here, the South not
forgetting her heroic dead.
The Clay statue in the heart of the
city is of especial interest, not so
much because of the work of the ar
fist in bronze as by reason of the in
scriptiOn put upon its base by Gen.
Butler when i'm command here. That
bold, bad man had the temerity to
cause inscribed on the granite tablet
one of Clay's most striking anti slavery
sentiments, and here in this old slave
mart the sentiment still stands! 1t
must have been Il thorn to these chiv-
alric advocates of the ''divine right" of
slavery which Il Northern man can
hardly conceive Of
A statue of Gen. Lee, the South's
idol, stands above the st. Charles hotel
on shaft of Tennessee marble, the
entire structure being over 100 feet
high. This is very imposing, but the
statue itself, though sixteen feet in
length, is at too great an altitude to
give much idea of it's merit. The
equestrian statue of Gen. Jackson, the
cotton exchange, the ride to Lake
POntchartrain, are all things worth
seeing.
Statistics may prove New Orleans a
healthful city, but it looks to a strang
er like a good place to start almost
any disease. 1t is built on land de-
scending from the river and the water
is kept from flooding the streets by
dykes along its banks. The sewers are
above ground and flushed by water
from the river. 1t looks singular
enough to see streams of water along
the streets running away from the riv-
er. The streets and walks are gener-
ally in bad repair, but well lighted
nights and quiet.
Leaving New Orleans we are ftrried
across the river to Algiers where the
train is in waiting for long stretch
over the "Sunset route" so called,
which is one branch of the great
Southern Pacific railway system. The
river here is nearly a mile wide and
very deep and muddy, with strong
current. The ride through Louisiana
i'm a westerly direction all Tuesday af-
ternOOn was an unexpected surprise
because of the broad fertile fields
through which the road passes. The
land is very fiat, without stump or
stone, apparently deep rich soil, and
under a good state of cultivation. The
fields we've alive with men and animals
(all cOlOred) cultivating corn, potatoes
and sugar cane, which crops are a foot
or more high. The habitatiOns are
the best seen since leaving Ohio and
everything indicates a good country.
At Lafayette where the train stop
ped to change locomotives, the inevi-
table old white planter was found be-
moaning the hard times. "No, strang-
er, things are not as they used to be
before the war. If a man now hires
forty niggers to work his plantation it
takes ten men to see that they do any
work, and he can run out fortune
very soon. There is no money in rails
ing sugar, and a man cannot hire help
and make the ends meet" Not ten
feet away from this croaker stood a
young eOlored man, 23 years old and
weighing los pounds, who said he was
working for the railroad company at
this station for S45 month. He own
ed a comfortable house which he
proudly showed the NOrtherners, in
which he had a wife of IS months
standing. He said the old white
"BlOwhard" was keeping little gro
Gerry with about thirty dollars worth of
stock in it-that he was a representa-
tive of the "before the war" white set
tiers. In answer to enquiries he stout
~ affirmed that the colOred man was
improving his condition every year.
getting possession of the land, exer-
cising the right of suffrage without
fear, SO far as these two parishes are
concerned, which was as far as his ac-
quaintance extended.